Ranking Member McGovern Reacts to Republican Rules Package for the 119th Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, January 1, 2025, Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee James P. McGovern (D-MA) released the following statement in response to the House Republicans' rules package for the 119th Congress:

"After two years of Republican dysfunction, disorganization, and disarray, you’d think Speaker Johnson and House Republicans might look at their failures and try to change course by working with Democrats to address the major problems facing our country. But you’d be wrong.

“Most alarmingly, Republicans are totally destroying the role of Speaker of the House by injecting partisan extremism into the rules. Their proposed changes would, for the first time in American history, shield the Speaker from accountability to the entire chamber by making it so that only Republicans can move to oust the speaker. This makes it clear that they have no intention of working together to find common ground. Instead of electing a Speaker of the House, they have decided to elect a Speaker of the Republican Conference—held hostage by their most extreme members. This election was close, and Republicans lost seats. The American people want us to work together. But the other side learned no lessons, because here they are, doubling down on their extremism with an unprecedented anti-democratic move that would fit right in at the Kremlin.

“The bills included in this Rules package—apparently Republicans’ top priorities—are also the clearest window yet into their agenda for the next two years. Here’s what I see: Nothing to help workers. Nothing to bring down grocery prices. Nothing to lower rent or make housing more affordable. Silent on inflation and healthcare costs. Next to nothing on jobs and the economy. Instead, I have no doubt they’ll find time to pass tax breaks for billionaires and massive corporations at the expense of everyday Americans. Oh and by the way: their first 12 bills not only bypass regular order, they are all totally closed—meaning no amendments at all from Democrats or Republicans. So much for openness and transparency. And that’s after they broke their own shameful record by running the most authoritarian congress ever—silencing debate, breaking their own rules, shutting out voices, and blocking amendments time after time over the last two years.

“The American people did not vote for whatever the hell this is—and you better believe that Democrats will not let Republicans turn the House of Representatives into a rubber stamp for their extremist policies.”

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The Committee on Rules was formally constituted as a select committee on April 2, 1789 and is one of the oldest committees in the House. An appointment to the Rules Committee gives Members significant ability to influence virtually all major legislation as it heads to the House Floor for a vote.